Fifty Years of Progress 1880-1930

A.A.A. JUBILEE SOUVENIR supremacy was lost-Thatcher, whose style was most distinctly opposite to that of Perkins, beat him in a 3-hours walk. Thatcher was always subject to a great amount of criticism until his last and greatest per– formance, when, in 1882, he walked 22 miles 456½ yards in 3 hours. This beat Perkins's record by about a furlong, and the sporting papers of the time paid tribute to the fairness of his walking, and the uniformity of his pace throughout. After this he backed himself at odds of 3 to I to walk 22½ miles in 3 hours, but nobody seemed anxious to take on the bet, and Thatcher finished his career as a bookmaker. Howes was a long-distance man and accomplished various fine per– formances. In 1878 he covered 50 miles in under 8 hours on an eight-lap tan track, and in the same year he is credited with 18¼ hours for the 100 miles, also on an eight-lap tan track, and 127-§- miles in the 24 hours. During this period an American, E. P. Weston, put up some wonderful long-distance performances, covering 1,ooo miles in 400 hours, and George Littlewood walked 500 miles in 130½ hours (about), but with the passing of Perkins, Thatcher and Howes, walking as a sport fell rather into dis– repute. It resolved itself into a series of freak matches, and the writer, as a small boy, has a vivid recollection of seeing various burly individuals, clad in a minimum of clothing and bathed in perspiration, endeavouring to walk from the " King's Arms " at Peckham to the " Dun Cow " at Greenwich against the clock, sometimes with a hundredweight of coal on their shoulders, and at other times with a gallon beer jar balanced on their heads. By the year 1895, however, walking had begun to attract the attention of the amateur, and with the advent of the great W. J. (Bill) Sturgess the sport revived in a remarkable fashion. In that year Sturgess started by winning the A.A.A. Four Miles Walking Championship, and then proceeded to make mincemeat of all existing records. His times from 1 mile up to I hour were phenomenal, and the best of it was that his style evoked universal admiration during the first year. He was perhaps the first exponent of " scientific " walking, exploiting to the full all those little devices which in combination constitute first-class style, and it carried him to the foremost position. It came as a terrible shock when he was disqualified at the Oval a few years later. Quite apart from the track, it was inevitable that the Brighton Road should attract the amateur walker. That historic road, with the glamour of the wild doings of the Regency days, has in turn proved irresistible to the runner, the walker, the cyclist, the motorist, and various other per– formers of the freak variety who push perambulators, or walk on the top of large balls. From the walker's point of view, however, history starts in 1897, v,.rhen the late " Teddy" Knott walked from the Clock Tower, Westminster, to the Aquarium in 8 hours 56 min. 44 sec. Knott was a most versatile athlete, and was in the front rank as a Rugger player, a boxer, a swimmer, a runner, and a cyclist, but he will certainly go down in history as the first man who walked from London to Brighton in under 9 hours. 120